Anger

Anger is a recurring theme in both Kincaid's feelings toward her family and toward Antigua, the country of her birth. Kincaid reflects on her own anger, admitting that anger often manifests itself in small transactions. When Devon asks Kincaid to go for a walk alone with him, she suspects that he'll ask her for something of hers and that she'll resent the request. She remembers how Devon had once asked her for the khaki shorts she was wearing and can articulate why the request annoyed her: "I did not like giving them to him at all. I did not want them back, I wanted not to have had to give them in the first place."

In Kincaid's family, quarreling is a way of life. One family member often stops talking to another, and these angry silences take on a life of their own. At one point, Kincaid identifies...